Luke Humphries survived a major Ally Pally scare against Ricardo Pietreczko to progress in the Paddy Power PDC World Darts Championship.
Tournament favourite Humphries was on the brink of defeat against the German nicknamed Pikachu, who took a 3-1 lead and looked set to top Brendan Dolan's prior victory over Gerwyn Price as the biggest shock at the Palace this year.
But Cool Hand Luke epitomised his moniker with a miraculous comeback which he completed in style with a whitewash decider to set up a last 16 tie with Joe Cullen, who got past Ryan Searle in today's (December 28) afternoon session.
READ MORE: Gerwyn Price breaks silence and is 'gutted' after Ally Pally exit to No28 seed
READ MORE: Gerwyn Price knocked out of PDC World Darts Championship by 28th seed in major upset
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Humphries' celebration was anything but calm and composed though, bolting over to the section of the crowd where Pietreczko's fans were housed and cupping his ears in their direction.
Joking about how he pulled the turnaround off, he told Sky Sports: "I pulled Charizard out of my back pocket!" As the boos rained in, he continued: "Honestly, I dare any person at home to experience what I just experienced.
Do you think Humphries can go all the way now or have you got doubts? Let us know in the comments section.
"I had about 99 per cent of the crowd against me. I peed my pants. I broke my point before the game started and that played on my mind. I played with a different set of darts.
"It was really tough for me tonight. Really hard. I had a section of the crowd over here whistling every throw so that's what the reaction for."
Humphries added it was the "toughest game of my life". He claimed the first set as had been expected, but Pietreczko quickly turned up the heat.
He completely outplayed the world No. 3 to move into the ascendancy. Humphries had to improve and he did, fighting back with three successive sets of his own.
Earlier in the night fifth seed Price wasn't able to pick up his performance and paid the price against 28th ranked Dolan, who avenged his defeat on the same stage from three years ago.
